During the extra hot heat wave I made my chicken some frozen treats by putting fruit and vegetable pieces in a bundt pan and freezing it. To give it to the chickens I turned the bundt pan over and ran hot water over the metal. The ice ring popped right out!
The bits of fruit left over from fruit salad went over the best. I made another ring with pumpkin, carrots and peas; the chickens ate around the peas. The ring made of banana and cranberry was a huge bust, they barely nibbled it.
My spinning speed on the wheel is about the same as on a drop spindle right now, but I am obsessed and can sit and treadle longer than I can stand and spin. The gentle swoosh of the wheel spinning is also soothing. Until I get a squeak. It doesn’t bother me (shockingly), but does set other people’s teeth on edge. I ask my eagle eared eldest to listen for the source of the squeak, then I apply a little oil. Off I go again. I even am making myself switch sides to balance the stresses on my body. I find it harder to treadle with my left foot and draft out to my right, but it is getting better!
I separated my hand dyed roving by Supernova Dye Works into segments and sorted by color. I love gradient yarns and wanted to separate the teal from the olive green. At the end of each day I took a picture of the yarn on the bobbin.
First melon harvested! The frogs did their job keeping the bugs down. I’ve been monitoring the bottom of this one and noticed a crack. But it was an untouched area, no sign of insect nibbles.
I freed it from the vine and sling and gave it a wash, then sliced it up. So good! It will probably be even better when it isn’t 100 degrees. A few hours in the fridge should do it, but we couldn’t wait to sample. I’m saving the seeds!
There are several more in various stages of development. Yum.
We have melons on the vine! And diligent guardians watching out for bugs.
After taking the pictures, I did tie up some netting slings, then sprayed the bottom of the netting with Neem oil, where the frogs can’t patrol. Then I found the frog convention.
I wonder what they talk about in their conventions. Are there speakers giving fine points on camouflage? Maybe break out groups discussing the merits of earwigs vs slugs?
One of the bobbins that came with my vintage wheel (there were 3, which is the original number!) needed fixing. The ends had come unglued from the shaft. There was still yarn wrapped around the shaft, but it was very old and deteriorating. So the first step was to get the yarn off.
I started winding it off, but it came off in pieces, so my Dad helped and cut off the remaining yarn. I then had the three pieces separated.
I sanded down the old glue and roughed up the surfaces to be glued, and used a wood glue to reattach the ends to the shaft. The next day I had my third spindle back and ready to roll!
Critters and Craft 